1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a workflow management system suitable for cooperative work spread over different organizations.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are block diagrams illustrating a workflow model in the related art.
Specifically, FIG. 1A illustrates a workflow model of a fixed type. The entire flow, which includes five tasks T1 through T5, is completely defined as a workflow before being performed, and the order relationship (illustrated by arrow solid lines in FIG. 1A) of the tasks T1 through T5 is also defined when defining the workflow. Further, the number and configuration of the tasks do not change when the workflow is performed.
As for assignment of persons who perform the workflow, it is made as described below. A definition of the workflow is designed beforehand, persons who perform the workflow have roles defined in the workflow, and operations to be carried out are defined. When the workflow is performed, persons are assigned corresponding to the defined roles. Then, mail is sent to the assigned persons to notify them of the assignments, and newly assigned persons can choose to either accept or decline the assignments.
FIG. 1B illustrates a so-called AKW (Agile Knowledge Workflow) model, in which sub-tasks are added or deleted; thus the workflow is partially broken up (recursive division of sub tasks) while being performed, and flow control is performed based on a parent-child relationship and an order relationship of the tasks, and dependence of the input and output documents. For example, among tasks T2 trough T4, which are children of task T1, task T3 is further divided into tasks T5 and T6 while being performed. The order of performing the tasks is determined from the parent-child relationship and the explicit order relationship (precedence task relationship) of the tasks. In FIG. 1B, the order relationship is indicated by arrowed dashed lines.
As for assignment of persons who perform the workflow, tasks are added while the workflow is being performed, and persons who perform the workflow are assigned accordingly. Only summary and goal of the tasks are shown to be assigned to persons, and these persons carry out their work while the workflow is further divided. Similarly, a mail message is sent to the assigned persons to notify them of the assignments, and newly assigned persons can choose to either accept or decline the assignments.
The fixed-type workflow model, as shown in FIG. 1A, is suitable for typical work which can be classified in advance, whereas the AKW model as shown in FIG. 1B is suitable for work requiring high flexibility, which cannot be specifically analyzed and modeled in advance.
However, for cooperative work, or work without a specific solution procedure shared by different organizations, the above-mentioned fixed-type workflow model and the AKW model suffer from the following problems.
First, for the cooperative work shared by different organizations, it is difficult to reach an agreement in advance about detailed definitions of the workflow, the required skills cannot be anticipated, and further the roles in the workflow cannot be defined beforehand. Hence, the fixed-type workflow model cannot be adopted. Of course, the AKW model is usable in this sense.
Second, sometimes, it is desired that detailed operating procedures not be disclosed to partners involved in the cooperative work, but neither the fixed-type workflow model nor the AKW model can meet this need; in other words, neither the fixed-type workflow model nor the AKW model can hide information when necessary. For example, the following information needs to be hidden when necessary.
Specific personnel performing the cooperative work, which information is related to inside personnel;
Configurations of the children tasks, which information is related to specialized knowledge and technical know-how information;
Schedule progress of the children tasks, which information reflects whether the tasks are finished in a hurry near the deadline or completed with leeway, and also reflects the amount of actual operations; and
Intermediate outcomes, references, and other internal information required in the children tasks.